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Coldplay | A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Another monument in the Coldplay lifeline: mission completed.
CD, EMD/Capitol

Tekst: Norbert Pek

Publicatiedatum: 25 augustus 2002

How does a band deal with very high expectations? We're talking about the second-album syndrome. Coldplay managed to make a terrific debut called Parachutes, which sold millions of copies. It featured ten intimate songs of despair, denial, rejection, and other cries. Because of Chris Martin's high voice, people compare them to Radiohead, but actually every band with a high-voiced singer is lumped in with Radiohead. The fact is that Coldplay touched a lot of people with their intimacy and beautiful melodies. And the same people started wondering: Is Coldplay able to do something like this again? Was it a lucky shot? Will the second album be as satisfying? The first sign came with first single In My Place, and it became clear that success didn't have any influence on Martin's continued writing of songs about dealing with rejection. Another monument in the Coldplay lifeline.

And A Rush Of Blood To The Head? Coldplay have grown, have become more varied. Starting with the staccato tones on Politik, like Blur did on Sing (b-side and on the Trainspotting soundtrack). We also find more mystery on A Rush Of Blood, mostly because the drum rhythms in songs like Daylight and A Whisper are more threatening than before. In other words, they could have fit on Amnesiac. It's also an album where you keep on picking a new favourite. When you're finished ardently listening to In My Place, you soon find that you can't restrain yourself from getting swept up in piano-based Clocks. And then you find the most personal addressings on The Scientist, Warning Sign, and Green Eyes, which starts with two minutes of acoustic guitarplay until the emotional outburst comes: "Green eyes, you're the one that I wanted to find." The textual strength is due to Martin's ability to describe recognisable situations in clear phrases. First descriptive, and then suddenly very direct. A Rush Of Blood To The Head will persuade the sceptics, even some of those who don't have anything to do with this so-called sad bastard music. Mission completed.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/coldplay/a-rush-of-blood-to-the-head/1800/
Meer Coldplay op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/coldplay